Iran: Protesters lose sight in either one or both eyes due to security forces firing shotguns and paintballs.

At a riot police base in Tehran, Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi praised security forces on Thursday.

Iranian officials have described the demonstrations, which began over mandatory hijab laws and have since spread to calls for the regime’s downfall, a Western-orchestrated conspiracy.

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“I say without any doubt that the current events were engineered by the US, Israel and their followers,” Ayatollah Khamenei told a group of Basij militiamen, a volunteer paramilitary deployed to quell dissent.

Human rights organizations estimate that more than 18,000 people have been arrested during the ongoing protests. The harsh judiciary has sentenced at least six protesters to death.